Japan 1 England 2: Bad day at the office for abject England in final World Cup warm-up

This was, as the scoreboard
suggested it might be when it
declared that a certain ‘D Brent’
was on the pitch, a bad day at
the office for England.

Fabio Capello’s side delivered an abject, lifeless
display here.

A performance that even England’s
manager admitted had done nothing to alter his
thinking.

Winner: Yuji Nakazawa's own goal handed England victory in their final match before the World Cup

‘This confirmed the 22 players (plus
Gareth Barry) I had in my mind last week,’ he said
after seeing his side win by virtue of two Japanese
own goals.

‘Nothing has changed.’

Rather like last Monday’s encounter with
Mexico, England were left to reflect on an empty
victory that did little to build confidence ahead of
next month’s World Cup.

Their football was
disjointed, their discipline poor.
Wayne Rooney might well have been sent off had
this been a competitive game, for what looked like
a stamp on Marcus Tanaka, and when it came to
converting a penalty Frank Lampard missed
again.

So much for all that practice at the end of
every training session.
Capello said the responsibility for spot-kicks
would remain with the Chelsea midfielder, dismissing
the fact that he also missed one in the FA
Cup final.

‘That was not important,’ he joked.
What happens now is what matters to the Italian,
and his mind does indeed appear to be clearer
after this.

Not only does he seem to know which
seven players he will be calling with bad news
tomorrow but he has a much better idea which
line-up he will go with for that opening Group C
fixture against the Americans on June 12.

After seeing Tom Huddlestone struggle to make
any kind of impact against a Japanese side who
were alarmingly superior, Capello decided enough
was enough in his search for a temporary
replacement for Barry and deployed Steven
Gerrard in the centre.

Put on the spot: Frank Lampard's misses his second penalty in succession

It was tough on Scott
Parker, who gave his all in training but was denied
the opportunity to stake a claim, but it pointed to
the direction England will take until Barry is fit.

Not since England travelled to Estonia in June
2007 have Gerrard and Frank Lampard started
together in central midfield and the challenge
now facing Capello is to crack a conundrum in
two weeks that his predecessors never solved.

But
England did play with more cohesion once
Gerrard was at quarterback and Joe Cole was
deployed behind Rooney.
Darren Bent had partnered Rooney in the first
half but for the Sunderland striker, rather like Huddlestone, the final audition did
not go well.

He had one decent
chance — a header — and sent it
wide, although it was not as glaring
as Emile Heskey’s second-half miss.

Not that Bent was alone in disappointing.

Perfect start: Japan celebrate their early goal against England in Graz

Glen Johnson was at fault
for Tanaka’s opening seventh minute
goal, in that he allowed the
Japan defender to surge ahead of
him and divert a Yasuyuki corner
past David James with a super
first-time shot, and it might just
be that Capello goes with Jamie
Carragher for the opener in Rustenburg.

Carragher did look more solid after the break, and in the presence
of flying wingers Capello could well
opt for extra security.
The deployment of the wingers
was interesting.

Theo Walcott and
Aaron Lennon in the first half; Lennon
and Wright-Phillips at the start
of the second; Joe Cole and Wright-
Phillips when Lennon went off.
While Wright-Phillips actually
made more of an impression than
Walcott, the Manchester City
winger will probably miss out
tomorrow.

Where does it hurt?: Steven Gerrard gives England a little more cause for concern

Capello adores Walcott,
rates Lennon and also appears keen to take Joe Cole as someone
who offers something a bit different
to his other attacking midfielders.

Cole could yet start against America
if Capello favours the 4-5-1 formation
he began the second half
with.

It would be easy to change
once Barry is back — Gerrard would
simply replace Cole in supporting
Rooney — and there was more fluency
in England’s football. But
given the choice, Rooney would
probably prefer to have Heskey
alongside.

If only to keep him calm.
Even on a decent pitch England struggled to string more than two
passes together, their first opportunity
coming only after Tanaka had
seized the lead.

A neat delivery
from Rooney suddenly presented
Lennon with a chance to score, but
Eiji Kawashima made the save.

At the end of an error-riddled first
half, Capello made his changes and
by the end of the second half there
were four players who never got on
over the course of the two games —
Parker, Stephen Warnock, Matthew
Upson and Michael Dawson.

As well as Gerrard and Joe Cole,
Joe Hart enhanced his chances of
breaking into the first team with a
fine save to deny Daiki Iwamasa. By
then Lampard had missed the penalty
awarded when Keisuke Honda
blocked a free-kick with his hand.

In the end England’s goals came
from their opponents. The 72nd minute
equaliser arrived when Tanaka
met a cross from Joe Cole and
put it out of reach of Kawashima,
and was followed by the sight of
Yuji Nakazawa leaving Japan’s
goalkeeper beaten again after trying
to intercept a delivery from Ashley Cole.

When Heskey squandered
a wonderful opportunity,
Capello could only wince. As he did
when Gerrard then started to
hobble around with a knee injury he
later said he did not believe was
serious.

Before the game Capello had
declared to television that his side
could win this summer’s World Cup.
Afterwards there were no such
messages of intent. Not least
because there remains so much
room for improvement.